Eternia
"Eternia acts in the best interests of all." "All of the Eladrin, perhaps." -Valenae and Riardon Rule Titled Ruler: King of the Elves Governance: Elected Monarchy Law: Scholasticism Economy: Merchant Confederacy Census Capitol: Allemantheia Lands: Eternia, Avathar (49,890 AC to 49,990 AC) Common Folk: Eladrin Vassal Folk: Elves, Humans (49,890 AC to 49,990 AC) Geography The Kingdom of Eternia consists of the seven elfhames - Caliman, Corondor, Otaria, Sarpadia, Tamingazin, Terisiare, and Yavimaya - each with its own ruler. Important cities on the island continent of Eternia include Norwood in Caliman, Calthyn and Kieryn in Corondor, Wirewood in Otaria, Havenwood in Sarpadia, Allemantheia and Garan in Tamingazin, Argoth and Fyndhorn in Terisiare, and Llanowar and Savaea in Yavimaya. Their palaces are objects of awe, wonder, and envy. Dawn's Light, greatest palace of Gilt-Leaf in Sarpadia, is built on tiers of wood and power. It is surrounded by rolling farmlands and by grasping fingers of dense, dark woods. The woods hide werewolves, ghosts, and other supernatural menaces, while the farmlands support a hardscrabble rural livelihood for Eternia's people. Howl-haunted woods of aspen, birch, and maple border the edges of Havenwood. The Lost Forest is almost supernaturally dense, filled with dark, sinuous trunks and a constant, hanging mist. The trees have broad leaves in muted reds, golds, and greens, and the forest floor is papered in damp leaves. The Lost Forest tends to isolate Eternia from the other provinces, as travelers through the woods are subject to attacks by werewolves, hauntings by all manner of primordial spirits, and mysterious disappearances in the mist. At night, the autumnal colors of the Lost Forest turn stark and steely under the silver glow of the moon. The only spots of color that appear are the luminous eyes of animals and the fires of shimmering apparitions. There are a few main paths that lead into Eternia from the other kingdoms. Each crossway is fraught with peril, leading travelers through the Lost Forest and over treacherous slopes, so those who make the journey do so at as brisk a pace as possible. Eladrin sometimes collectively refer to these paths as the 'Breakneck Ride.' Gilt-Leaf is a farming village in Sarpadia, at the center of miles of sheep, goat, and cattle pasture. The pastures near the town were once mingled with woods - dense arms of forest that once joined the Lost Forest - but the eladrin here chopped down all but a few trees to clear room for their farms. It's thought that wild essences resent the destruction of their forests, for werewolves continually terrorize the livestock and people of Gilt-Leaf. The villagers of Gilt-Leaf celebrate a harvest festival at the rise of the red moon, working late into the night by the light of bonfires, and cooking great feasts of fresh meat and vegetables. Lately, as the power of Gilt-Leaf's protective wards has waxed and waned, and werewolf attacks have become more frequent, the tenor of the harvest festival has changed. Now the highlight of the festival is a great hunter's contest, in which fey knights and twilight incanters go on hunts through the surrounding Lost Forest, trying to slay the most powerful supernatural creature. Many never return. History Third Era The surviving fey escaped the Unraveling by fleeing to the mortal realm, and those few were further reduced by the ensuing Cataclysm, and by the lingering hostility between the seelie and unseelie. It wasn't until five thousand years had passed, five generations of high elves come and gone and none who had witnessed the Unraveling yet lived, that they were able to put aside their differences. Both seelie and unseelie together built Argoth, the first city of elves in the mortal realm, in the Lost Forest of Eternia in 5,209 AC. By then their numbers were few indeed, but they were a people united: the eladrin. In only a few short centuries, Argoth's sister city of Fyndhorn was built, and from there, they expanded quickly. The cities Llanowar and Savaea quickly followed, and in the thousand years that followed, Calthyn, Garan, and Kieryn were all founded nearby. In the year 6,510 AC, a newly declared king of the elves united Llanowar and Savaea in the elfhame Yavimaya. Before 7,000 AC, the cities Havenwood, Norwood, and Wirewood had all been founded on Eternia, and before 8,000 AC, Argoth and Fyndhorn united in the elfhame Terisiare, Calthyn and Kieryn united in the elfhame Corondor. Before 9,000 AC, Garan formed its own elfhame Tamingazin, and the rest followed. Havenwood formed the elfhame Sarpadia, Norwood formed the elfhame Caliman, and Wirewood formed the elfhame Otaria. In the year 9,758 AC, the seven kings of the elfhames met to choose a single, absolute king of the elves. Aeren of the elfhame Tamingazin was named king of the elves, and all seven elfhames united in the Kingdom of Eternia under his rule. In the year 10,000 AC, to commemorate the recovery of the Athame responsible for the Unraveling, and the survival of the eladrin in the face of both the Unraveling and the Cataclysm, the new capitol Allemantheia was founded in the elfhame Tamingazin. In the year 49,790 AC, Illyriel of House Shanairra in the distant land of Yunith, tricked the king of the elves into declaring genocidal war against the drow of the underdark. However, she had secretly spent centuries preparing the drow for war against the Kingdom of Eternia, claiming to act on behalf of the mysterious Witch of the Wilds. The Eternian Civil War, as it was later called, lasted three years, until an unlikely fellowship of elves, eladrin, and drow captured Illyriel, and she confessed to her crimes in 49,793 AC. Both the king of the elves and the queen of the drow withdrew their armies back behind their own borders, each waiting for the other to strike first. Which the Eternians did, although not against the drow. The Kingdom of Eternia launched the Invasion of Kupa in 49,890 AC, swiftly conquering and annexing the Kingdom of Avathar. Ostensibly 'enlightening' the less-cultured avvar people, Eternia occupied Avathar until the year 49,990 AC, when insurgents and rebels reclaimed Kupa and drove the Eternians back across the sea.Category:Civilization Category:Third Era